Late next week, Bruce Ratner, the Brooklyn Real Estate developer is expected to gain approval as the Nets new principal owner.

Three-quarters of the NBA's 30 teams must approve the sale, but that is not expected to be an obstacle. Cablevision, which owns the New York Knickerbockers, waived its territorial right to block the transfer of a rival franchise into New York City in the mid-1990s. Votes will be cast via e-mail, because the league's board of governors won't meet again until October.

Once that is done, may one of the biggest rivalries in the NBA begin between the Knicks and the Nets.